Video Poker Strategy

Video Poker is played between you and the Dealer. You are dealt five cards in the first hand. When you receive your first hand, choose the cards to hold or discard. The cards you discard are replaced with new ones from the deck.

The objective of Video Poker is to complete the game with the strongest hand. Your payout is dependent on the value of the hand you are holding. The payout values are described in the Payout Schedule. If you win your hand, you can increase your winnings by participating in a Doubling phase.

The object of the Doubling phase is to draw a card of higher value than the Dealer's card. If you select a card of higher value, your win amount is doubled and you can choose to repeat the Doubling phase again, or collect your winnings. You can continue Doubling until you draw a card of lesser value than the Dealer's card and lose the hand, or until you reach the Casino's Doubling Limit. You LOSE all your winnings if you lose the Doubling round! Doubling is a calculated risk.

It's best to always play the maximum number of coins in Video Poker if you can afford to because you get a higher payoff if you get the royal flush jackpot.
You can buy strategy cards at most casinos or on the internet. There are also some very good Video Poker strategy charts at math wiz Michael Shackelford's Wizard of Odd's site.

Remember, the machine has no memory and it does not come "due" for a winning hand. Each hand you play is just as likely to win or lose as the one before it.

- Portions of this article courtesy of 7 Sultans Casino.

Note: common mispellings: stategy, stragety, stategies, stradegy, stratagy, stratejy, stratejies, stratagies, and stratagies, stradegies.